Unless you work in the area of marketing or SEO, the idea of creating a marketing plan for any business, let alone dentistry, is going to be daunting.
Indeed, this is an area that is booming in popularity, and is imperative for a dental surgery’s success, but it is also an area that can be hard to navigate without the help of professionals. This can mean that many dental teams avoid engaging in marketing for their dental surgery, which can pose long-term problems concerning their success against their competitors.
But don’t despair! Even if you are new to the area of dental marketing, there are many ways to boost the success of your dental surgery and your online presence, which will be discussed here. However, as a starting point, it is usually a good idea to get the advice or guidance of a team who specialise in this area.
Set gols
Decide exactly what you are trying to achieve from your marketing. Possible marketing goals could include increasing patient numbers, increasing the brand visibility of your practice, or generating more online bookings. Or, perhaps, you are trying to attract more of a certain type of patient to your surgery. If you have recently invested in training your team to fit dental implants, perhaps this is an area you want to expand on. If so, as mentioned before, you may need the specific help of a marketing team, but having a plan in place is never a bad idea!
Research
Research your patient and local population demographics. This will help you to know who your target market is and what type of marketing may appeal to them. Going back to the idea of investing heavily in dental implants, perhaps you want to attract older people who are more likely to need this service. And perhaps the best way to reach this group is by posting adverts on certain websites. Or, you may want to look at financial demographics and aim your adverts at those who are in a higher income bracket and may have the money to spend on your cosmetic services.
Digital presence
You will need to make sure your website and social media profiles are active and up to date. Ensure all contact, pricing and service details are accurate, so potential patients will be able to find your dental surgery if they need to. Indeed, social media is a core part of any marketing plan, as it allows you to post information about your dental surgery and to respond to patients and potential patients in real time, helping to create better online relationships.
Content
Create a content marketing strategy, such as blogs or videos that demonstrate your practice’s expertise. This is vital for SEO, which will be discussed later. You will need to start a blog section on your dental website, which will enable you to post information about what it is that your team can offer to patients, as well as information about offers that your surgery may be able to provide in a given time span.
SEO
Successful online marketing will not be as successful if you do not invest some energy into building on your SEO or search engine optimisation.
You will need to optimise your content with keywords and phrases related to your practice. This will help the Google bots to identify your surgery page whenever a keyword is searched for. Email campaigns can also be used as part of SEO to promote special offers, including coupon codes and free consultations.
